


In Exile

by emmadilla



Series: 30 Day OTP Challenge [7]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3
Genre: 30 Day OTP Challenge, Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, F/M, New Relationship, Third Wheels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-13 23:46:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17497610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emmadilla/pseuds/emmadilla
Summary: After being permanently banned from Vault 101, Ruby begrudgingly takes Butch DeLoria with her and regrets it pretty much immediately.





	In Exile

**Author's Note:**

> 30 Day OTP Challenge
> 
> Day 7: A Third Wheel
> 
> \-----
> 
> I'm so sorry to anyone who likes Butch. I don't hate him, but he and Ruby just do not get along. Also, first Fallout 3 fic! Yay!

Groaning, I trudged onward, Charon’s heavy footsteps right behind me and Butch’s distinct swagger sounding off in the dirt as he trudged along off to my right. How the hell had Butch managed to talk me into this? Oh, right, because despite the fact he was a dick, for some reason growing up with him had endeared him to me on some level. When he’d left the Vault after I had been able to facilitate the decision to do so, I didn’t feel like I could just leave him to the wastes. He didn’t even have a gun, for chrissakes. So, despite my own heartache after the permanent banishment issued from the only real place I knew as home by who I thought was my closest friend, I put aside those feelings and offered to escort Butch to the nearby settlement of Megaton. I had a house there and figured I could spare a little time to help him get on his feet. I couldn’t hold his hand forever in the wasteland - nobody had certainly offered to do the same for me - but I had been far less brash and confident than Butch when I first emerged. My caution had served me well as I’d become acquainted with this new world in a way that Butch’s ego would get him killed in similar fashion.

 

However, he had done absolutely nothing to ingratiate himself properly with the residents upon arrival. His first stop was Moriarty’s where he spent a good amount of the allowance of caps I’d given him with the intention of him buying a reliable weapon and supplies. So, after Gob sent for me to pick up my deliriously drunk friend, Charon and I had debated what our next move should be. I needed to get to Rivet City, but after his spectacular failure in budgeting and self-control, I didn’t feel like I could really trust him to stay in Megaton while we made the journey. While I was fine with having him here while I was still in town, I didn’t trust him to not screw me over in my absence. Familiarity only went so far. Butch didn’t understand this wasteland enough to survive in it alone just yet.

 

Despite Charon’s reservations about it - and my own, if I was being honest - I fished out a decent weapon or two from my stash, and when Butch finally woke up, I gave him some instruction on firing, aiming, reloading, and cleaning. Even gave him a nice stash of ammo. My original plan was to turn him loose on the wasteland and let him take his chances. If he was meant to make it, then he’d figure out things pretty quickly. If he didn’t, well … maybe the stimpaks I gave him would be enough so he could crawl back to the Vault. But once he got wind that I wasn’t planning on staying in Megaton too long, he needled me until I finally told him where I was headed, and he just would not let up until I agreed to take him with me. “I mean, I wanna see this world, and you told me you would help me, right?”

 

“Yes, but …”

 

“So take me with you, then. What’s the big deal?”

 

“I’m taking Charon with me.”

 

“So? What do I care if he comes with us or not. I bet we could all have a lot of fun on the way.”

 

I really don’t know what had possessed me to finally give in and agree to let him travel with us, but at this point I was wishing that I had simply told Charon to hand over the weapons, give him the instruction, and then show him out. There was nothing Butch could have told Charon to change his mind, if I told Charon to show him out, if the giant ghoul had to pick the scrawny former Vault dweller up and carry him out of Megaton on his shoulder, he would have. _I’ll have to remember that for next time_.

 

Of course, that was if there would be a next time. And I had no plans whatsoever to travel with Butch further than Rivet City. If DeLoria had any kind of delusion like that, I had no hesitation to set Charon after him.

 

This whole journey was supposed to just be time for Charon and I. We had recently gotten closer, and with everything that had just happened in Vault 101, I was feeling needy. But I was hesitant about showing something like affection in public, not because Charon was a ghoul, but because this whole thing was new to me. I’d never had any inkling of feelings for any of the boys I grew up with, and I had figured on just becoming the old spinster of the Vault. I’d never been one to read romances or moon over future possibilities, and so I felt helplessly lost in this new stage of a relationship. Coupled with the sharp sting of what felt like betrayal from Amata … all I really wanted was to curl up into Charon’s side and have him envelop me. He made me feel safe and secure. Cherished, even. We’d finally worked past the odd connotations of his contract and were starting to feel more settled.

 

And then along comes Butch.

 

He spent as much of the journey complaining, whether it was because walking was boring, or his feet hurt, or he didn’t like how super mutants and raiders simply laid in wait for passers by. “Cowards!” he exclaimed, firing wildly, missing the targets more often than he hit. “Why do they gotta be such assholes, huh?”

 

“Because they’re _raiders_ , Butch, that’s what they do.”

 

“Well just you wait until I get the Tunnel Snakes up and running, I’ll show ‘em what’s what.”

 

I could only roll my eyes at his naïveté. _Sure, Butch. Whatever you say._

 

We made it as far as we could the first day, clearing out and hunkering down in an old, run down building where a fire could be concealed and we could also have separate sleeping spaces. _Finally, some goddamn privacy around here_.

 

Of course, there couldn’t be peace just yet, as Butch had to find something to complain about seemingly every other minute. It was cold, the fire wasn’t enough, shouldn’t we make another one? The food was terrible, why couldn’t we have something normal for dinner? The ground is hard, the sleep pack is too thin, can’t we find a place with a bed? I gritted my teeth and resisted the urge to kick him out, making the excuse that we all needed to get a good night’s sleep before Charon and I retreated into the little, closed off space that I had claimed for us. I figured letting Butch have the space closest to the fire would mean less complaining in the long run, and I would gladly do anything to shut him up.

 

Not like I was going to really be cold, anyway. Charon and I would sleep on top of the sleep pack, using it to cushion us against the hard floor, but with the natural heat he radiated as a ghoul it wouldn’t be too cold.

 

While we had been a little distant with each other during the day, Charon and I immediately warmed up to each other as we settled down for the night. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close and I just melted into him. I felt his thin lips against my forehead as he murmured, “I’m sorry for what happened at the Vault.”

 

I shook my head. “It’s not your fault,” I whispered back.

 

“Is there anything I can do?”

 

“Just hold me.”

 

His grip tightened ever so slightly, that additional pressure enough to be soothing and comforting but not uncomfortable and restrictive. In truth, I wanted to cry. Wanted to scream and sob and yell and kick something as hard as I could. And had Butch not been just on the other side of the wall, perhaps I would have. Maybe I would have just let it all go and allow myself the chance to fall apart at the loss of one of my strongest connections I’d had in my entire life. Maybe it was childish, but then again maybe it was just something to be mourned before one moved on. Instead, I buried my face in Charon’s expanse of a chest, clinging to him like he could offer me whatever salvation I was looking for.


End file.
